


bang bang

by swallows (toska)



Category: Digital Devil Saga
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3387824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toska/pseuds/swallows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>— it was really just a fling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bang bang

**Author's Note:**

> watching certain scenes in DDS online, and by certain scene I mean the one that made me realize that Heat O'Brien is the love of my life, but putting that aside. I noticed that after Argilla pulls the trigger, that her hands are shaking, she's kind of freaking out. 
> 
> I ended up quite curious about Sheffield's manipulation, and wanted to expand on that. (thanks, novas)
> 
> (Also does this warrant an M-rating?)(I don't know)

i.

 

It was just a fling at first. Just something to blow off steam, Argilla isn’t stupid, she knows this. She knows that when Serph strokes her thighs, and leans in close— it isn’t because he loves her. When she kisses him back, it isn’t because she loves him. There’s no time for love, or romance. Just something more primal.

But that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have any fun.

 

ii.

 

Things start to change. It turns out that it isn’t a one time thing. They spend nights at each other’s places, more often at hers. He “forgets” things in her apartment, she at his. He stays the entire night, draws her back against his chest. It’s warm, she thinks. Sometimes, they don’t even fuck— just fall asleep in each other’s embrace. This thought bubbles such warmth in her lower abdomen, and it’s love it’s love it’s love. Or maybe it’s not love. But it’s something, just something more than blowing off steam, just something more than a release.

Her mind thinks of love, again. And she really shouldn’t because love— love doesn’t work here, work in this way, it’s a silly school-girl thought. Silly and bright and cheerful like Sera’s smile. Sera loves him too, she thinks.

But Argilla isn’t Sera, she isn’t in love. It’s still nice to pretend, she thinks. Maybe in a world where there was none of this, maybe she and he, they, they could have been something. Something real, tangible, vibrant.

 

iii.

 

He doesn’t show affection in the workplace— they aren’t like that. But that doesn’t stop her from flashing him a secret smile, as she passes by— pushing a trolley from one of the lab rooms.

He flashes a smile of his in return, but she isn’t sure if that’s directed at her, or at O’Brien. Heat O’Brien is there, standing next him, just snarling, solemn, yet storming.

She asks him about what they argued about, later that night. It isn’t like her to ask, to pry about business. He surprises her when he answers. 

“He just doesn’t get science. He doesn’t understand the big picture,” he says, with a shuddering sigh. His shoulders are slumped, and he leans forward, away from the back of the couch.

She squeezes his wrist.

“We can’t save Sera, I understand that he’s got some savior problems because of his sister and how she was Sera’s age… but you can’t save everyone. If we were to take care of everyone, if we were to save everyone, we would never get results. You don’t make progress, by playing the hero. Sometimes we need losses, in order to truly learn.”

He looks up.

“Promise me, one thing. That you won’t be like him, you won’t let things such as humanity get in our way. We need detachment in order for things to truly work.”

“I promise.”

He looks up at her, so earnestly and she wonders if he’s wrong. He has so much humanity, much more than Heat’s. He understands the steps necessary to save the world, and she is  going to help him.

“I promise.” She repeats.

She finds a gun in her drawer the very next day.

 

iv.

 

At first the gun doesn’t bother her, she’s taken to carrying it around with her. But things end up changing.

Serph, he doesn’t show up that often anymore. And when he does, he doesn’t spend nights. His items find themselves back to his flat, and hers are meticulously put back in place. And she in unnerved. There is this slight pain in her heart, a pang. Argilla doesn’t really understand, doesn’t really want to talk about what that pain is.

This is only just a fling, she tries to reminds herself. Something to take their minds away from work, but sometimes Argilla thinks that his mind has always been on work. His eyes have always been out of focus, staring clearly at something beyond her, something that she doesn’t understand.

She shakes these feelings off and continues on with her duties, until the day that Heat O’Brien finally snaps.

 

v.

 

She’s working from the sidelines, preparing the pharmaceuticals needed, when something goes wrong. Sera’s state is critical, Serph decides to inject the stimulant.

O’Brien pulls out a gun, and Serph slams his hand on the table. Sera’s watching, her eyes flashing back between the two of them in panic. Argilla watches on, not really listening to Serph’s words. Instead she recalls the words, he told her that one evening, and slowly draws out her gun.

“Sometimes we need losses, in order to truly learn.” He had said.

“You’re really something you know that? You can’t just manipulate people to do whatever the hell you want!” O’Brien says.

Serph lets out a chuckle, not at all perturbed at the sight of the pistol. “Oh, can’t I now?”

She pulls the trigger, and she’s shaking,  _oh she’s shaking_ ,  _she’s shaking_ ,  _she’s shaking_. Her breaths are coming out in uneven pants, and oh she’s shaking. The gun falls from her hand, as she tries to back away.

Serph doesn’t notice.

Instead, he crouches down and examines O’Brien’s gun. He’s not dead yet, barely grasping on to life, grasping,  _gasping, gasping gasping_.

She’s gasping, too.

Serph continues speaking, his eyes still focused on O’Brien.

“Simple, huh? The human heart is just a machine. We can predict the outcome of any action. Considering my goal is God’s power… people are just tools.”

Serph looks up again, alerted by Sera’s distressed noises. There’s no place for her, she realizes. She has already fulfilled her duty to him. She falls, leaning against the wall as her heart beats erratically. She just needs to close her eyes, just for a second. She needs to remember how to breathe. She hears the door slide open, and then—

And then there is nothing.


End file.
